Jersey City community group wants conditions placed on sale of Christ Hospital

Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey JournalA hearing is held yesterday to discuss the final sale of Christ Hospital to Hudson Holdco, at state Superior Court in Jersey City.

A Jersey City community group formed after Christ Hospital announced its proposed acquisition by a for-profit company has asked a Superior Court judge to add three conditions before he finalizes the sale of the bankrupt medical facility.

Save Christ Hospital, working with nonprofit law center New Jersey Appleseed, asked Judge Hector R. Velazquez yesterday to install a monitor at the hospital, set up a charitable foundation with proceeds from any future sale of hospital property and prohibit hospital employees from sitting on an advisory board set up as a condition of the sale.

Hudson Holdco, the owners of Bayonne Medical Center and Hoboken University Medical Center, purchased the financially distressed Palisade Avenue hospital for $43.5 million in March after Christ Hospital filed for bankruptcy.

The sale, given the state’s OK on June 19, is set to be finalized Monday morning.

At a hearing in Superior Court yesterday, Renee Steinhagen of New Jersey Appleseed, which supports the sale to Hudson Holdco, argued that Velazquez should put the three final conditions on the acquisition because of the hospital’s importance to the community.

“It’s a very big deal. The community has a very strong interest,” Steinhagen said.

Bosco scoffed at Steinhagen’s claims that Hudson Holdco is ready to sell some of the hospital’s seven-acre property that isn’t related to the hospital itself. Steinhagen told Velazquez that Hudson Holdco is interested in “flipping” the medical properties it purchases.

“I don’t know if Hudson will profit on some future sale,” Bosco said. “I think the hysteria that’s being whipped up is really unwarranted.”

Velazquez seemed hesitant to add the conditions sought by Save Christ Hospital and New Jersey Appleseed.

“This deal is dead if I do that,” the judge said.

“All we’re asking for is a monitor,” Steinhagen responded. “If they’re going to walk away from a monitor, we have a real problem on our hands.”